Picking up the pieces
by LauraJanIce
Summary: It's been a couple of months since the big battle. What happens when an old friend arrives and finds two of the world’s champions just wallowing in their sorrows.
1. Chapter 1

**Picking up the pieces**

**Rating: **I decided, after some thought, to give story a T rating. However there will be two short passages (in chapters 13 and 17) where an M rating might be more appropriate. If you are very sensitive to sexual themes you have been warned.**  
Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.**  
A/N: **Some people say they suck at summaries. I definitely suck at titles – at least more than summaries. I hope this one is a little better than plain Post NFA.

**Chapter 1**

"Hello!" a red haired witch yelled in the middle of the empty hotel lobby. Boy, it looked shabby here, she thought to herself. Maybe they didn't use it at all. Giles said that they'd changed locations but the locating spell she had done had definitely pointed to this place. Angel at least was here somewhere even if the others might not be.

She took a few more steps forward. "Angel? Wesley? Cordelia? Fred?"

Finally some noise came from behind the reception desk. Willow heard glass hitting the floor but not breaking, rolling – probably a bottle and fabrics rustling.

"What bloody racket is this?" A blond haired pale skinned man in a black leather duster appeared. He seemed to loose his words when his eyes managed to make his brain realize exactly who was standing before him.

The girl's first reactions were just to gape, her mouth opening and closing but making no sound despite the effort.

"Red? What brings you here?" the man asked sounding almost as surprised as she looked.

"Spike?" Willow finally managed to whisper. "You're alive!" She rushed over to him and threw her arms around him.

Spike hadn't expected that kind of reaction and just stood there awkwardly with the girl wrapped tightly around him but slowly relaxed his muscles, put his arms on her back and pulled closer to him. It was a nice feeling having someone touching him; even if it was a person he had half a minute ago wondered if would flay him alive.

After a while she let go and looked up at him wide eyed as if he was one of the seven world wonders. To her he actually was more remarkable than that. "Spike? What are you doing here? How did you…? Buffy said you were dead."

"Still am luv," he smirked at her. "Just as I've been for the past hundred twenty something years. But to what you're asking I haven't got a clue. Angel got the bloody amulet in the mail and I just popped out of it like some poofy genie."

Spike watched the confusion and curiosity come over Willow's eyes: "Come again?"

They really had a lot to talk about. She hadn't been in touch with the L.A. gang since she came here to ensoul Angel again. That was well over a year ago. In their line of work a whole lot could happen in a year.

Spike had fished two unbroken chairs from the piles of broken furniture and other junk around the lobby for them to sit on. He even offered her something to drink before realizing that the only two things this household had stocked up on, in the two months they had been there, were blood and whiskey. And since sometime last night they were out of the latter.

Much to Spike's surprise Willow hadn't had any wind of his "resurrection" when coming. Apparently little Andrew was capable of keeping a secret after all. That explained why no-one had come to see him, neither to hug him or drive a piece of wood through his heart.

"So, what brings you here, Red?" He asked after telling her what he knew about his coming back.

"Oh, I felt a slight shift in magic here a couple of months ago. It felt rather strange and I wanted to see if I could find out what exactly that was… plus I'm gonna go visit my parents for the first time we defeated the First."

He had stopped listening after the 'slight shift' bit… and snickered. "I'm not sure how you rate these shifts you feel but we did have an incident about that time. But I personally wouldn't rate the world's most powerful cross dimensional evil law firm being sucked into hell just like that, leaving us a few dozens of some seriously angry demons, a handful of trolls and a dragon to slay a _slight_ disturbance… not even with English modesty."

This was their next long topic for discussion. Willow was sorry to hear about Wesley and Gunn and slowly a few more things concerning her current surroundings and the way she had found Spike were falling into place. "So, you've just been drinking and lying on the floor for the last couple of months?" she asked after he had gone through the tale of the latest California apocalypse.

"You know, it's a bit hard doing something with mr. Broody doubling up on his brooding. Illyria has been going out though. Went with her the first few times to get her up to speed on that helping the helpless gig and all."

"Who is this Illyria exactly?" Willow asked but was interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach and they continued their conversation in a small restaurant. She was already having desert when he finally got the chance to ask her about what had happened to her and the rest of the gang from Sunnyhell after they had separated.

Later Willow lay in bed in one of the Hyperions not totally run down bedrooms and went over all that she had heard tonight. She hadn't even seen Angel yet. Spike's story had been enough for one night. Her head was overflowing with information. Not only was Spike alive… well not dust at the bottom of a very large hole where Sunnydale had been, but most of the people she had expected to find here were dead… even if one of their body's was apparently possessed by a dampened spirit of an ancient demon, if she had understood correctly.

And the disturbance she had felt…. Maybe she wasn't as powerful as she had thought if that had only been a slight disturbance to her…. But no use wondering about that now…. The length of the e-mail she would have to write to Giles in the morning would make up for some of it. Somehow she had a feeling that her stay in a L.A. could drag out for little longer than she had planned… something needed to be done here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 2**

Willow sat in the Hyperion's garden with her take away coffee enjoying a few rays of sun before going into the dark hotel again.  
She had spent over two hours at an Internet café after breakfast reporting to Giles what she had already found out, except for who exactly her source was. Spike, as a subject with Giles and the rest of the new council, was something she wanted to think about a little longer how to handle. Who to tell?

She knew that she would eventually tell Buffy no matter what arguments Spike might have against it. She had no idea how the slayer would take the news. The prolonged separation between the friends due to their work to resurrect and improve the council had made Willow realize how little she actually knew Buffy. They were best friends but still she felt she didn't know Buffy – and hadn't done for a long time. Probably not since shortly after Riley left, when everything started to fall apart and never had time to really heal before starting to unravel again.  
She really hoped that Buffy would be glad to hear about Spike, preferably very happy. That would do her some good. Willow had visited her and Dawn for a week in Rome about a month ago. During that brief stay she had not only realized how little she knew Buffy but also that her best friend had changed. Really changed. Traces of the cheerful, witty and warm-hearted girl Willow had met in high school were hardly ever noticeable. There were sporadic sightings of her but only for a moment and then the moment was gone. The serious, almost distant and cold front was back up.

Hopefully the news of Spike being among the walking and talking would make some walls tremble within the slayer. At least stir up some genuine emotional response. That would be a start.

And then there was Angel to think about.

Willow let out a low sigh, drank the rest from her cup and went into the building. It was time. She didn't care how his sleeping hours were or if she'd have to search every damn room in the hotel. She was here to see him and would see him not matter how anti-social Spike said he was.

She found him in a room on the second floor. The furnishings were more than for a usual hotel room. It probably had been his room while they had lived here a couple of years ago. Still, like the rest of the hotel, it was a mess. 'What the hell had happened here', she wondered. Spike couldn't tell her. He'd only stepped into this place after the big battle and it had looked like this.

At first she thought he wasn't as bad as Spike had said. Had been pleasantly surprised and met her with a genuinely curious "Willow! What are you doing here?"

Maybe the blond had been putting it on rather thick about the brooding? But soon it became clear that Angel was in bad shape. While Spike drank his issues away each night Angel seemed to spend his days and nights thinking about them and wallowing in his sorrows.

Spike's narrative of the battle had mostly focused on what they had fought and the events that led to it. Angel's story was focused on the price that had to be paid, the allies that had been lost all the way from this guy Doyle she didn't know, to Cordelia, Fred and Gunn and lot's of other people she had never heard of. The descriptions of wounds and deaths and suffering were far more detailed and vivid than she would have imagined possible. It didn't take a degree in psychology to see that there was a lot of self-accusation going on here.

When the day had turned to night Willow couldn't take any more of it. She just told him that she would be staying a few days, that she would see him again tomorrow and left.

She was in deep thought when she returned to the lobby after her session with Angel and therefore didn't notice the blue haired, leather clad demon standing in the middle of it.

"You are Willow," an icy voice startled her from her thoughts.

Even if Spike had told her about Illyria nothing prepared her for the sight in front of her. The woman looked bolted with power but strangely enough Willow's fear faded away instantly. "How do you know my name? Did Spike tell you I was here?"

"This shell remembers meeting you?"

"Shell?"

"Fred. Who used to have this body."

Willow wrinkled her forehead before realizing what was going on. "Oh. You have her memories. Creepy. You must be Illyria then?"

"Yes. You are correct."

Speaking to this demon with her icy voice and mechanical answers was actually like a fresh breeze of air to Willow's ears after having spent hours with the gloomiest of all gloomy Angels. She was in urgent need for some more company, and since Spike was nowhere to be seen…

"Hey, Illyria. How about we go out and get a drink? I sure could use a few right now."

"I don't have the need for human beverages and I don't usually socialize but if you wish me to accompany you I can."

"Great. Let's go."

Willow returned to the corner table they had picked with two glasses of wine and another apple snafs shot. She'd already had one at the bar.

She put one of the wine glasses in front of Illyria despite the demon's earlier comment about not needing to drink. If she didn't want it, it would just be for appearances. As if anyone would actually notice if the blue haired superhero chick had a drink in front of her or not.

To Willow's surprise Illyria tasted the drink. "The shell used to like this drink. I'm not sure if Illyria likes the taste."

Willow tried to swallow her snafs without squirting it out through her nose again. Spike had warned her that Illyria had a big ego, but people talking about themselves in the third person always made Willow laugh.

Silence fell over the table for a few minutes. Illyria was watching the people around them with fascination.

"How can you stand to be around the guys the way they are behaving?" Willow finally asked, already feeling the alcohol a little.

"They are grieving for their friends."

When nothing more followed Willow made another try of starting a flowing conversation. "How 'bout you? What effect did the big battle have on you?"

"I grieved for Wesley." Illyria stated in her cool voice. "It was a strange feeling for me. The shell loved him and he tried to help me, even if it hurt him looking at me. But going out and doing violence to evil demons and halfbreeds takes it away for a while.

"You talk a lot about Fred. Are her memories confusing to you?" Willow would never have thought that her psyche classes would ever be of any use to her while talking to an ancient demon coming to terms with the humanity within itself.

"I don't when I'm with Angel and Spike or Wesley and Gunn before. It hurts them. You didn't care about her like they did."

"You're right," Willow responded supportingly. "I liked Fred, but I only met her a couple of times. She was nice though, and smart."

"I don't assume her shape any more."

"You can do that? That must have been hard for the guys."

"I did it for Wesley when he was dying. He said it was lying but he wanted me to."

"You were with him when he died?"

"Yes. He had spent his last day with me even if Angel had told him to do anything he wanted. It puzzled me why he would do that and I came to help him after I had killed all mine but I was too late. Since I lost my powers.

"You lost your powers?" Willow asked surprised. Illyria oozed with power, one could feel it just by looking at her. There was no way she was powerless.

"The shell wasn't strong enough for all my powers."

"What kind of powers did you have?"

"I was everything. I was God. Time, space and dimensions yielded to my command."

" I see how that could have come in handy."

Willow realized, as she was brushing her teeth back at the hotel, that she had really enjoyed her night out with Illyria. It hadn't been quite as light and frivolous as she had hoped since this demon also had some demons of her own but at least she was trying to come to terms with her issues, which was more than she could say for the two vampires.

She found Illyria intriguing. She reminded her of Anya, except not as loud and even less humanized. Illyira's curiosity and desire to understand humans was interesting and she had offered to help the older woman with that.

Willow had also decided that something really needed to be done around here. Two champions of the people shouldn't just be lying around in some old hotel wallowing in their sorrows. They needed a good kick in the ass and she and Illyria combined should have enough power to do it.

And hopefully one other champion would also benefit from this plan.


	3. Chapter 3

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.  
**A/N:** Thanks to you guys who've reviewed and added this to your alert list or favorites. I just hope I can live up to your expectations.

**Chapter 3**

When Willow came downstairs, the next morning, Illyria was already standing in the lobby waiting for her.

"Have you been waiting here long?" Willow asked politely.

"I'm not sure what humans consider long."

"You could have sat down and been more comfortable" Willow tried again pointing at the two chairs she and Spike had sat on when she first got here.

"That would diminish my capacity to quickly respond to danger."

"Oh. Ok then." Better just get back to business the witch thought to herself. "I think we should be able to get this place cleaned up. The lobby and the office at least. I say we just throw all the broken things out in the alley behind here for starters."

"That is where the battle took place." Illyria stated in an almost gentle voice. "It is a great hub of mystical energy."

"Well, mystical energy will just have to find another place to hub until I get the junk removed."

The women started to work hauling out broken chairs tables, pieces of cutlery and other stuff into plastic bags or just straight out to the alleyway. As they started to make progress and were nearing the front desk Illyria came to a stop.

"Spike is asleep behind the counter. Do you want me to remove him as well?"

Willow couldn't help but giggle a little at the thought of the demon woman easily picking Spike up, in his passed out state, from the floor and tossing him to a pile of junk out back. But since it was mostly wooden furniture debris and still sunlight outside that probably wasn't a great idea for a practical joke.

"No he's technically not broken, just dead. Let's just leave him until he wakes up."

They worked in comfortable silence for a while and again and again thoughts about what the hell could have happened here and left all this mess, began to swim around in Willow's head. All the furniture indicated that a lot of people had been here, like a party. But when she last came to visit L.A. the gang didn't seem likely to be throwing big parties any time soon. Suddenly she realized that there was indeed someone there, beside Angel, who had been here at the time.

"Illyria, do Fred's memories know what happened here. What all this junk is?"

"Yes. But I can't explain it. It's very confusing."

That was a strange answer and an answer Willow hadn't expected from either Illyria or Fred. There was nothing to do for her but to shrug these thoughts away and continue with the cleaning. In the office she found a radio and put on some music. Illyria seemed to like it.

Willow and Illyria diligently kept working around Spike's dead body lying in all his clothes behind the desk. He didn't wake until they were down to dusting and sweeping the floors. He looked confused around his changed environment, saw the girls with broom and rag in hand and sneezed.

"Bloody women, obsessed with cleaning, you are. And what the hell are you listening to?"

"It's music, Spike" Illyria generously explained. "I like it."

"Buggering unhealthy music, that's what it is. And what do you think you are, Red? Coming here feeling a disturbance in the force, all Obi-Wan and thinking you can just start bossing us around, cleaning and things. Next you'll probably try to stop me from drinking and smoking… or actually to get off my ass and do something."

"And that would really be a tragedy." Willow answered sarcastically. "Besides, you just sneezed! You don't even breathe. That must tell you something about the need for cleaning."

"Women," the blond snarled on his way towards the stairs. "I'm gonna take a shower. With all this cleaning I feel kind of dusty. I don't like it."

"Well, that was easy," Willow said cheery when he was gone. "Showering was actually way above actually doing something on the list for him.

When Willow and Illyria were finally finished with their work downstairs the witch decided to have another go at the depressed vampire on the second floor.

"Angel, it's Willow. Can I come in?" she gently asked after knocking on his door. She just took the low mumbling she heard from the inside as consent and walked in.

Angel was sitting in the same big armchair as yesterday facing the window staring into the darkness in the room. The blinds were drawn shut. A bath wouldn't be a bad idea for him as well but Willow wasn't sure she'd manage that today.

"Angel, I want you to come downstairs with me. Illyria and I did some cleaning. I thought it would be nice if we all had some dinner together."

"What's the point Willow? What's the point of attaching oneself to people? It only makes it much more difficult if they leave or are taken, drains you, takes away all your strength. It has to be easier if you just never care."

Willow let out a deep sigh. This wasn't going to be easy. She sat down on the same chair as where she had sat yesterday when she had come to see him. But now she noticed how dusty the chair really was. She had dealt with enough dust today to last her a lifetime but there weren't any better options.

"Why did you then? When you left Sunnydale I didn't really figure you for the friends making type."

"I didn't want to. I was told to. So I wouldn't be tempted."

"Tempted how?"

"Not to care. To allow myself to slip up. It made me better at my job."

"There you go." Willow smiled. "That still applies."

"What job? Wolfram & Hart is gone. I've been fighting them since week two in L.A. I don't know where to start again. I don't think I have the energy to start again."

"Angel, you knew there would be sacrifices to make. And everyone you worked with knew what dangers lie in our line of work. They accepted the risk."

"I know. But it's not fair that I'm still here and they're not."

"Yeah. I know that sucks." Willow answered quietly her suddenly looking just as depressed as Angel. "And I know it's hard coming to terms with it. You're dealing much better with it than I did. I went all evil, sought vengeance and decided to world wasn't worth anything without her and tried to take it down. And almost did." She paused and tried to shake the gloom. "But with the help of my friends I managed to get over it, mostly. And it made me stronger."

"I don't have any friends left."

"Oh, come on Angel," she scoffed at him. "Spike's still here. Illyria is here. I'm here. Buffy would come if you asked her."

When he made no attempt to answer she continued talking.

"Our job sucks. It's hard, tiring, the hours are crap, the pay is low or non-existent and we have to make huge sacrifices. In some jobs you have to be away from your family, that also applies here, but mostly for their own safety. The ones you do get to be around you almost have to expect to loose sooner or later. And when you do you still have to go on. We've all done it. I lost Tara, Xander lost Anya, Giles lost Jenny, Dawn, Spike, you and we all lost Buffy. She's died twice and lost heaven. Plus she sacrificed you and still thinks she's lost Spike. I don't know how many potentials, that is innocent girls, we lost during our dealings with the First. You lost a lot of people but do you honestly think they'd want you to sit around here and mope and just give up. You know, even Cordelia was very dedicated to your cause and she was stubborn as hell."

"I loved her, Willow." Angel almost whispered. "I really loved her and I never got to tell her." With that admission something burst and the vampire broke down crying. Willow slowly walked over to him and awkwardly laid a hand on his shoulder in support. It was strange seeing this big and strong man cry but it was way beyond obvious than he needed it. She had no idea how to comfort 250 year old vampires and before she knew it he had grabbed her and she was sitting in his lap with his heads cradled at her shoulder and his tears wetting her shirt. But if this is how he wanted it she was going to let him and just gently stroked his arms and shoulders until he had let it all out.

"I'm sorry," said apologetically he said when he released her from his embrace and started wiping the rest of his tears of his cheeks.

"It's fine Angel. I want to help. I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you when it really mattered but I want do what I can now."

"Don't be sorry. You couldn't have known. And it was all very sudden anyway and this time you were kind of my second front… except you didn't know it."

"Huh?"

"Doesn't matter. So you're staying?"

"If you let me. Most of my work for the new council can be done per e-mail and since me and Kennedy broke up I don't really have any special place to be, other than here."

"I'd like you to stay. I think we really need some fresh blood… since Spike is now technically the youngest. Let me just take a shower before I come down."

A winner's smile spread through her face a minute. "Angel." She waited for him to turn around and face her again. "It's gonna take time. And believe me, it's not easy. But I believe it's worth it."

He gave her a shy smile and turned towards the bathroom.

Down in the lobby Spike had retuned the radio and found some punk metal station.

"I liked the other music better," Illyria, who amazingly enough was sitting on a chair at the table they had set up, informed her. It was actually amazing that Illyria could sit down in her costume, Willow suddenly caught herself thinking.

Spike seemed to be in better spirits and gotten over his dusty felling. He sat on the newly cleaned desk and banged his head and played luftguitar in the rhythm with the music. "So how's broody?" he asked stopping his animation.

"He's coming down when he's showered."

"Well, well, aren't we honored? So was there lots and lots of nancy boy crying?"

"I think crying is a much better strategy than drinking yourself into oblivion every night and hiding the fact that you are a live from the people you supposedly love."

"Bitch," he mumbled.

"Champion!" she mocked back.

When Angel came downstairs he looked muck better and almost laughed when Illyria immediately asked him what kind of music he liked.

Now Illyria looked adorable, having decided to taste some human food, Chinese takeaway, to be precise. She was concentrating so hard on picking up a deep fried shrimp with her chop sticks that her eyes almost crossed.

"There is a whole world that is only made from shrimp." She said. "It feels strange eating one."

"Really?" Willow grasped. "I've only heard about a world without shrimp."

Spike was also doing better and almost back to his old self, on the outside at last. He complained that the food wasn't spicy enough and had gone to the market down the street to get some beer. A lower alcohol percentage could probably be considered progress.

In her order Willow had specifically asked for four fortune cookies. She was the first to open hers and read the fortune out loud: " 'What goes around comes around'. Let's hope that is in a good way."

Spike went next. "Oh, bollocks," he cursed when he looked at the slip. "Revealing your emotions is the greatest bravery."

Illyira was next in line. "I don't understand this ritual."

"It's just a silly tradition. You just open the cookie and inside is a piece of paper with some advice on it," Willow explained. "You decide if you want to believe it or follow it but some say the advice you get is always the advice you need." Illyira got to work on opening her cookie.

"'Questions are the key to knowledge'. I like this advise."

All eyes turned to Angel, who was the only one left but he didn't do as much as look at his cookie.

"I don't like prophecies."

Willow frowned at him. "It's only a fortune cookie. Usually they are good and I don't think they are really that reliable," Willow tried to persuade him.

He indulged her, but with a grave expression on his face. "Cherish what you had but remember what you have."

The room went silent. "That should apply to all of us," Spike finally said with uncharacteristic gravity.

"If you have something to remember," Angel mumbled under his breath.

"Oh come on, Angel." Willow was slightly annoyed. "Don't you go all broody on me again. We are all here aren't we?"

"And you have that boy that comes here," Illyria added. Willow didn't know who she was talking about but still agreed with her.

"And how 'bout dog lady?" Spike supplied.

Before she realized that this was off topic Willow had asked for clarification.

"He has a girlfriend." Spike said mockingly. "Who's a werewolf."

"So? You say it like there's something wrong with that."

"Damn. Forgot about your dogboy. Ruined my moment."

"I don't think I'll be seeing Nina again." Angel broke in. "Sending her on vacation kind of against her will and then not calling for two months I think sends a certain message.

Willow decided that maybe it was best to change subjects. "You know, I'm no expert on vampire post apocalypse aversion depression, but to me it kind of looks like you need something to do. Why don't you build the private investigation agency up again? That would be a point to start from."

"But we don't have seer," Angel replied.

"A what?"

"A seer. When I moved her, Doyle found me and he was my link to the Powers that be. He got these visions to show me where I was needed. When he died the visions went to Cordelia and she tried to pass them on to me, but I've only gotten that one vision that told me how to take down the circle."

"Boo, hoo." Willow wasn't all that sympathetic. "So you actually have to find your own cases. Come on. You were starting to build a reputation. I'm sure business will go up fast when word gets out that you've opened again. And until then, you could patrol."


	4. Chapter 4

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 4**

"So how 're we gonna do this?" Spike asked juggling his stake from one hand to the other. "Are we splitting up or making our presence known as one hell of an army?"

"I'd like it if we'd all go together. I haven't patrolled with anyone except Kennedy since Sunnydale. I kinda miss it," Willow said. "It could be fun."

"We could go bating. That always works well in the clubs." Angel added. "But we don't have anyone good for bait, except maybe you, Willow."

Spike chuckled. "You're gonna make the most powerful of us the bait?"

"I don't mind." Willow answered.

"What is this power you have?" Illyria asked with obvious jealousy in her voice, not liking being told she wasn't the most powerful.

"I'm a witch." The answer seemed to satisfy Illyria.

"So…" Angel took the lead as they stood outside a club with booming music inside. "Illyria, you'll be in the back alley. Willow you will lead them there. I'll be on the inside, giving you tips and watching your back and Spike…"

"He can be manbait." Willow suggested with a grin on her face.

"In your dreams Red."

"She does have a point. We could handle two baits." Said Angel.

"Then you be bait you ponce."

"I think he's a bit big for bait," Willow gloated enjoying her little verbal spar with Spike. She really could see why Buffy had liked it so much.

"What? Just because I don't wear lifts and don't look like I eat a horse for dinner every night doesn't mean I'm not scary."

"It's just like Xander said once." Willow grinned. "You're well muscled but compact."

"I always new the whelp had thing for me… and speaking of orientation: What are you gonna do, guys or girls?

"Whatever comes along, I guess. What are you doing?"

"I know my way in the world, Red."

"Oh, do you Spike." Angel shot in with a grin of his own.

"You just keep your mouth shut forehead or I'll teach you a lesson!" Angel laughed but Spike turned his attention back to Willow: "Or do you wanna make a competition out of it?"

"Sure. Any special gender or just total count?"

--

They had done four clubs in total. Final tally went: Spike: 5 girls and 2 guys (which Willow was very impressed with) and Willow: 4 girls and 6 guys. Spike reluctantly admitted his defeat by firmly stating that he was far too scary to be bait.

Afterwards they had decided to split in two teams and try and catch some random assaults on their way back to the hotel. Spread the word that Angel Investigations was back in business. Spike and Illyria went together and Willow and Angel teamed up.

"Thank you," Angel said out of nowhere.

"For what?"

"Tonight. I actually had a good time. It was nice getting out of the house again, doing good. Helping normal people. I got caught up in that corporate thing far too long.

"You're welcome. I also had a nice time. Beating Spike was really fun."

"Yeah, that was quite a feat. I never would have believed I'd see the night when you outflirted Spike."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Willow said.

"It was supposed to be one."

"Some interesting things were mentioned at dinner, don't you think?" Willow changed the subject but her wait for an answer was rudely interrupted by three vamps getting ready to feed on a girl in the alley they were just passing.

"God, I'm stiff," Angel complained after having smoothly dusted the three vamps and hailed a cab for their intended victim.

"So back to your werewolf girlfriend," Willow tried once she had his unshared attention again.

She had to admit, after hearing the story about Nina, that their relationship was probably over. But the fact that Angel had found a girlfriend after Buffy and Cordelia was good.

"And what about the boy Illyria mentioned. Who is he?"

Angel took a long time to answer. "Can you keep a secret, Willow?" He finally asked looking rather sheepish.

"Sure."

"I really want to tell someone since all the people that knew gone, but it's not really my secret to tell… I don't know how common knowledge he wants it to be. But Connor… He's my son."

Willow came to a dead halt and started coughing up the air she had just inhaled in shock. "Okay. This is a story I have to hear, no matter how long it is."


	5. Chapter 5

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 5**

Willow knew that her plans to get the vampires to pick up the pieces of their lives and start doing something again was going well. But she was still surprised to find Angel in the lobby reading the paper over some blood when she came back from her morning Internet café session.

"Hey. Nice to see you up and about."

"Good morning to you too," He answered. "It's nice being up and about. I've already cleaned out the training room, although Spike and Illyria are probably trashing it again as we speak."

She must have had a very confused look on her face since he suddenly found the need to clarify.

"They really like hitting each other. And I'm reading the paper trying to find any clues for us to work with. I think you were right. I need something to do."

"Great." Willow chirped picking up her groceries bag and laptop case again. "Let me just put these away and I'll come and help you.

Willow came back downstairs chewing on her lip. Since Angel was pretending doing so well this was probably not a worse time than any other to bring up the delicate subject that was on her mind but he beat her to open the conversation.

"I asked Connor to come over some time. I'd like you to meet him."

"Yeah. I'd like that." She took a deep breath before plunging into the great unknowns. " Angel, there's something I wanted to run by you… or actually a couple of things."

"Alright. What's on your mind?" They moved into the back office and sat down side by side on the sofa there.

"It's about Buffy… and you… and Spike."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh…. Buffy and Spike had a thing."

"I know."

"The last thing she said to him was 'I love you'"

Angel's face hardened but he held his tongue.

"She still doesn't know he's alive." Willow continued.

"I know."

"I wanted to ask you where you and Buffy stand… and for that you should know that I can probably bind your soul permanently."

There was a long silence before he began to speak.

"I'm not sure where we stand. I haven't talked to her since I was in Sunnydale last, and then she told me Spike was in her heart. I do love her, and I think she loves me too but I'm not sure it's the same kind of love as before. She told me this story about cookie dough and that she wasn't finished baking…. You know, Cordelia had one last day. She was in a coma for months but then talked the powers into giving her one last day to get me back on my track. We loved each other before… but there, that day… we talked and we both agreed that we had missed our time. At one point we could have made something of it but we missed it, that moment. And it never came again. I've been wondering if there is a similar situation with Buffy. We had a chance, we had a second chance and maybe even a third one. But it was never right. So maybe we've passed our chance."

He was quiet again and Willow didn't dare to bud in so he eventually continued.

"You should tell her. Both about Spike and the soul thing. You can tell her what I said. I don't know. Maybe our chance is yet to come... I don't know."

"So, out of curiosity. If she would choose Spike, what would you do?"

"I just want her to be happy… Even if it is with him." He groaned as if in pain and started pacing in front of her. "As I understood he helped her when she came back from the dead. I couldn't even if I wanted to. She chose him over me then, she chose him for the battle. She probably didn't trust me, and had every right not to. If he makes her happy I'll accept that."

"What about the soul?" Willow asked. "That was an offer to you not just you and Buffy?"

"It's a generous offer, Willow. But let me think about it, alright?"

"Fine. I'm gonna find Spike and talk to him a little before I call Buffy, he should know I'm doing it."

"Do you think she'll choose him?"

"I just don't know, Angel. Since I've been here I think I hardly know Buffy at all. I think I know you better than Buffy, at least I think I understand you better. So I have no idea. She might choose Spike. She might want you. Or she might not choose either one of you. I just hope that whatever she decides to do will bring her some closure and bring some joy into her life again."

Angel nodded pensively and she left.

She found Spike in the training room in the basement where Illyria had her heel on his neck and was trying to get him to admit defeat. He finally did when Willow asked to speak with him alone.

They settled themselves on some training mats with their backs against the wall.

"This is about Buffy, isn't it," he said gravely staring at a spot on the opposite wall.

"I want to tell her."

"I should have done it long ago."

"Why didn't you?"

"Not much glory in that, is there? Going down in flames, saving the world, the girl telling you she loves you and a couple of months later you're back but as a bloody ghost who can't leave the building or touch anything. When that was fixed I chickened out. It had been so long and what did we have anyway. A few nights in abandoned houses and basements just before the end of the world… and then she had moved on… and to the bloody Immortal."

"How do you know that?"

"Angel and I went to Rome. He had a spy on her. We went to save her from the son of a bitch but found out she was dating him and never caught up with her because of this head thing we had to bring back to the States to avert a demon war."

"That thing she had with the Immortal only lasted a couple of weeks. Dawn really didn't like him and I think he's the only guy she's gone out with since you."

"Dawn was always the smart one."

"You should have told Dawn too. She really misses you – and she admits it."

"So the Slayer doesn't announce every night that she's going to cry herself to sleep with my name on her lips?"

"Do you love her?"

"Always."

"If she'd want to would you be willing to give it another try with you two?"

"Always."

"I can't promise you anything, Spike. I think you probably know her better than I do. Do you want to tell her or should I do it?"

"Nah. You do it Red. I think it's too late for me now. But wear earplugs because she'll yell your eardrums out."

--

Later there was a gentle knock on Willow's door and Spike hesitantly stuck his head in the doorway.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

He took a couple of steps into the room. "How are your ears?"

"I hope I'm back to full hearing in a couple of days."

"Was it bad?" A loose thread hanging from the seam of his dusters sleeve seemed to be fascinating him.

"Well, she was quiet. Then she cried. Then she yelled and yelled some more and cried some more. And in between there somewhere I think she growled."

Spike looked like in deep thought. It was a new look for him. "Do you think the crying was more good crying or bad crying?"

Willow couldn't help but giggle a little at his nervousness. "I think that if you had called her when you first came back, even if Angel had pushed the dials for you, there would have been good crying… now I'm not sure."

"Right. So I'm screwed."

"I don't know Spike. She needs time to think. I'll let you know if I hear something."


	6. Chapter 6

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 6**

Willow didn't like to be sneaky. She had never been any good at it although she had to learn some tricks through the years. Despite her reluctance to leave out pieces of the whole truth here and there she had decided that it was better if Spike didn't know of the soul fastening offer she had made to Angel and Buffy just yet. And it was definitely better if neither of the vampires in question knew just how soon Buffy was scheduled to make a visit to the States… as in today.

Dawn had gotten her dream scholarship at Stanford and Buffy wanted to come along to see her off. Plus she had some personal business to attend to.

Willow was meeting the Summers sisters at a café and was kind of nervous about it. She hoped that she had done right by pressuring Buffy to make up her mind about the vampires in her life once and for all.

She stood up and greeted them with hugs and kisses. They looked different even from when she'd been with them in Rome. She still wasn't used to the gorgeous woman Dawn had become. Buffy paled in beside her sister. She was nothing more than skin and bones and didn't really look like someone living in sunny Italy. Next to Dawn's tanned skin she looked like a vampire.

There was some usual catching up on what life was like in Rome, news of Giles and Xander. A bit of time was also spent on Dawn's impending studies of literature with a minor in history, which had to Buffy's dismay, been recommended by Giles as practical for a watcher's carrier. Then there was the third topic.

"So Buffy," Willow started hesitantly. "Have you given any thought to two L.A. resident vampires, lately?" She tried to keep the atmosphere light even if she knew that this was no topic of light conversation.

"Have you made Angel's soul permanent?" Buffy asked without giving any hints to her thoughts in her face.

"No. He wanted to think about it."

"I want to see him."

"What?" Dawn asked truly surprised. "You're choosing him? Why do you keep doing this to yourself, Buffy?"

"Dawn. I'm not choosing him. And what do I keep doing to myself?"

"Going for the guys that are certain to make you miserable. Like Angel and the Immortal. But the one that could actually make you happy, him you don't let near you."

"I'm not choosing Angel. I just want to talk to him. And somehow I get the feeling that he won't be surprised that there won't be another chapter in the Buffy/Angel disaster saga."

"So what about Spike?" Dawn asked persistent.

"I'm gonna see him too. I just want to talk to Angel first. I know what to say to him… I have no idea what to do with Spike."

"Just do what your heart tells you to do," Willow shot in a gush of shame flooding her for not having said these words years earlier to her friend on this same subject. If she had only paid more attention then…

"That's easy to say."

"Buffy. You're THE Slayer. You can do this." Dawn said to her sister and was backed by Willow's resolved face.

"Don't you dare Slayer-ing me! Don't you think I know that I'm the slayer. And that's exactly why it bother's me so much that this scares the shit out of me. I've fought Hell-Gods, trolls, countless demons and vampires, died twice and saved the world numerous times. But telling an annoying souled vampire how I feel about him – that's too much for me to handle."

"Well… you do have some bad experience with that… one can't really blame you for being a little… hesitant." Willow agreed only to receive a stern look from Dawn that firmly stated that this didn't qualify as helping.

"What if it doesn't work? What if we get each other's hopes all worked up and try and try and try so hard that it just won't work and we split up and I have to start getting over him all over again? I can't do that. My on/off relationship with Angel through the years is enough to last me for several lifetimes."

Willow took a deep breath. It was time to tell the truth even if it might not be well liked. "Look, Buffy. You say that you can't get over him again. I'm not sure you ever got over him the first time."

Buffy opened her mouth to argue her friend but the witch warned her from doing that by simply raising a finger.

"Buffy, you had a hell of a couple of years in Sunnydale. When I think about it I'm not sure you ever got over Riley leaving. You just didn't have the time with your mom's sickness, having to take on all her responsibilities, then there was Glory and you died, being forced back, Spike, my problems and then the First and all the Slayers in training… when did you have any time to deal with your emotions? Most people wouldn't have been able to remain sane through all this. You did… it changed you. I can understand that… but I'm afraid it changed you too much. And about Spike: You were never really together, were you? You had a secret affair that ended badly and then some holding pattern around the end of the world. Did you ever go on a date? Did you ever just hold hands strolling down the street…" Something about that just didn't sound right. "…Or out on patrol or whatever? Spend a whole night together, not counting within a week before impending doom? You never had a real relationship. You don't know what that is like".

Sure, it might not work out and it would hurt. It hurts a whole lot. But what if it does work? And the time it does work it makes us so much stronger that it's worth it. I have to believe that, we all have to believe that. Why else even bother living?"

Buffy was staring in blank surprise at Willow. If she never found time to work through her emotions where the hell had Willow found the time to become the love doctor?

It was Dawn who broke the dramatic silence after Willow's speech:

"If you're going to see Angel…. Could I maybe see Spike?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 7**

She got there first. She wasn't nervous at all. It was strange. She almost felt she should be nervous about not being nervous. She was, after all, waiting to once and for all break off her semi-romantic relationship with her first love. Not worrying was very uncharacteristic of her.

It all changed as soon as she felt him walking into the room. Her heart almost leaped out if her chest at the first sight of him. As usual, when he was around it was beating for both of them. He looked good. Not too broody. God she almost sounded like Spike. Spike, now that was a thought that made her heart stop.

In a flash everything about Angel and her went through her head… well some things were just too painful and would always be. That was one of the reasons for what she was going to do. Besides from the pain he brought he was handsome, loving, interesting and actually kind of perfect – perfect for someone else than her.

She watched him come closer. He smiled at her. When had she last seen him smile? Had she ever? She couldn't remember.

She stood up and they hugged. It was just supposed to be a friendly hug, and it was just that until suddenly their lips were locked together.

It just came natural to them somehow. A way they said hello. She couldn't tell who had initiated the kiss. Probably both or neither and as soon as they realized what they were doing they stopped and broke apart.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen," Buffy started.

"Yeah. Me too. Didn't plan that."

An awkward silence followed. They sat down and he looked at her. She looked at him.

"How have you been?" She tried to ask hoping there was something in the world that could ease the atmosphere around them, if only just a little.

"I don't know. Probably been better. The last few months… or maybe last couple of years have been really tough. But it's getting better. You?"

She sighed with understanding. "Alright. Takes some adjusting to this new life. Also a few very hard years to get over. Takes time."

More silence followed but filled with only slightly less tension than before. This time Angel made the first move.

"Buffy, I'm not sure we were meant to be." No point in beating around the bush any longer.

"I agree."

There it was. They had both said it. The bubble burst and the tension was gone. She started to breathe easier and he stopped breathing. They understood each other perfectly. They were just friends that was what they were meant to be from now on… friends with a strange tendency to kiss each other hello.

After an unusually pleasant conversation between them Angel surprisingly brought up a new topic.

"How about Spike? Are you going to see him?"

"Probably. Although I'm really nervous about seeing him again."

"Are you going to turn him down too?"

"I don't know." She answered looking around the room, anywhere but him. When she did she knew that he understood what she wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"It's alright. If he makes you happy I'll be alright with it."

Her look hardened. "Well, he could have been making me happy for the last year or so but, I don't know, he forgot to tell me he was alive?" Her tone was so bitter it almost made Angel shiver.

"He wanted to tell you, even come see you…. He just didn't know how."

"Yeah. He lost the ability to talk? I find that very hard to believe."

Angel quickly decided that maybe it was time to change the subject again and started asking about Dawn.

--

Spike had been pacing back and forth in the Hyperion's lobby for fifteen minutes now. How had he again justified not telling them he was alive? He had just not thought about it and whenever a related thought crossed his mind he just had a drink or a bottle.

How was he supposed to explain not only being alive… still undead… AND that he had been so for almost a year without them knowing?

He really felt his soul today. There was a slight burn that complemented the knot in his stomach that had been there all day. He was ashamed and he was extremely nervous. Plus Dawn had never really forgiven him for what he did to Buffy before he went to get his soul. With that and the surviving and not telling he really didn't know what to expect – except most likely raging fury.

Suddenly he noticed that he wasn't alone anymore. At the top of the steps just inside the front door stood a stunningly beautiful young woman with arms crossed over her chest and a stern look on her face. "Feeling guilty?"

The voice he knew. Last time he had heard it, it had belonged to a little girl and not the gorgeous woman who only bore a slight resemblance to the girl. "You could say that yes."

"Good." She walked down the steps towards him.

He was still trying to get his head to accept that this was the same little bit he had known a year ago. She kept looking him in the eyes and it was starting to scare him. Now there was just a foot or so separating them. Suddenly he felt pain in his shin. She had kicked him. His Nibblet had looked him straight in the eye and kicked him.

"Oww," he finally had the sense to shout but the sound was soon muffed and the pain overwhelmed by the feeling of a warm small body that threw itself into his arms.


	8. Chapter 8

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **will be disclosed later on as they happen. Not that I think they are great surprises but…**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 8**

"So, they are actually going to meet each other?" Angel asked with a surprisingly little amount of hurt in his voice.

"Yep. As we speak," Willow answered. "I think Spike was actually looking paler than usual when he left."

"I guess it's gonna be kind of intense with them."

"One would think so. But… if you don't mind me saying… I hope it works out for them. Buffy really deserve some happiness."

"There he is," Angel almost shouted pointing Willow's gaze to a dark haired, thin and generally normal looking boy – considering his history.

"He's cute," Willow replied and watched Angel's face light up with fatherly proud.

"Connor," he called to the young man who turned towards the bench they sat on. "Connor," Angel started formally. "I'd like you to meet my friend Willow. Willow, this is Connor."

"Very pleased to meet you. Angel speaks very highly of you," the witch said politely as she and Connor shook hands.

Connor proceeded by critically studying Angel from head to toe. "You're good," he stated towards Willow. "He looks a lot better then when I last saw him."

"Connor!" Angel tried reprimanding his son.

"What? She should know she's done a good job with you. Having a girlfriend really suits you."

Willow was laughing at his words all on her own but had no choice but the double her efforts when she saw Angels sheepish face and if she wasn't mistaken there were slights hint of a colour in his cheeks. The same person witnessing a vampire pale and another one blush on the same evening – that had to be a record of some sort. "It's not like that," she tried to explain.

"You're not the wolf lady?"

"What is it with you guys. She has a name, just like Oz had one."

"Me and Nina broke up," Angel intervened Willow's excitement.

"I'm sorry," Connor said then leaning into his father as Willow stood up and started walking, and almost whispered: "Has she got a boyfriend?"

Angel sent his son an accusing look before turning it into a nasty grin. "Actually she hasn't but she had a girlfriend not so long a go."

"Oh." Was the only thing Connor could say to that.

They were actually out for a reason. Angel had an appointment to pick up the last payment from a customer who's house had been possessed by an evil spirit. As Angel went to talk to him about some preventive actions he could easily perform himself to hinder the problem from popping up again, Willow and Connor had a chance to chat.

"So. If he's taking you out on business, I'm guessing you know about demons and vampires and all that stuff," Connor started.

"Yeah I know few things."

"How did you guys meet, anyway? You seem to know him well but I've never heard him mention you before."

"We know each other from Sunnydale, where we both used to live, well, before it was sucked into a hellmouth."

"And now you're working with him?"

"I'm just helping out a little. They really needed someone to give them a little push after the big fight here. I actually have another job – as a kind of consultant."

"Cool. Like in management?"

"More in like, magic and demons. I'm a witch."

"Oh, sorry." Connor looked a little embarrassed at his little outburst. "Here I thought Angel actually had some normal friends."

"I used to be."

"Me too… well not really… but I remember it."

Willow felt that there was something more to Connors words than just the literal meaning. "Do you wish you didn't know? Angel said that it was an accident that you got your memories back. I won't tell him if you do, I know it can be a little much sometimes."

"No it doesn't bother me much. And knowing Angel and all this, how the world really is, is cool. It's just strange being the only one… you know, in my normal life."

"Yeah. I don't think I really would know, I've been wrapped up in magic and demons since I was sixteen. But I guess it would be really strange suddenly not being able to talk about it openly anymore." Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Angel said you go to Stanford, right?"

"Yes."

"Well. Maybe you're not the only one who knows. You see I have this friend…" Wheels were turning and a plan was forming in Willows brain that caused a sparkling glint to occur in her eye.


	9. Chapter 9

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike and more to come.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 9**

As if Buffy hadn't had enough of emotional roller-coasters and awkwardness since landing in L.A. this was the extreme high point of both. She and Spike were walking side by side down the Santa Monica strip and both had been quiet for about five minutes now. That in itself probably was some kind of record.

The awkwardness had started as soon as they were in talking distance of each other – and they didn't really need words to speak. When she had spotted him coming towards her through the crowd their eyes locked in a stare of amazement and didn't brake until he was only a few feet away and they both realized what was happening. And suddenly neither of them had any idea how to handle this. Should they hug? Should they kiss?  
The last thing she had said to him was that she loved him. A kiss wouldn't be totally out of line. But then again, he hadn't believed her, the bastard.

Seeing Angel had been so easy compared to this royal mess. Everything had come so easy there. She had without any effort known what to do, even if kissing him hadn't been the sensible choice it had come naturally.

Now nothing but insecurity and awkwardness seemed to come naturally. And he didn't seem to be doing any better than her.

Finally she decided a hug would be the safest thing. The sensation of having his body once again pressed against hers swept her out of rational thought for some few amazing minutes. The feel of the leather of his coat under her fingers, the familiar smell of leather, tobacco and alcohol. The touch of his fingers on her back almost burning her skin through the layers of clothes she had on – and he didn't even have a body temperature. The general feeling of security, love and overall rightness that his embrace gave her made her realize, beyond any doubt, that she was doing the right thing. This just felt way too good to be able to be wrong, in any way.

But knowing that didn't make it any easier though and as soon as they let go of each other the awkwardness was back to separate them. After a few short 'How are you' and 'nice to see you alive' they were out of easy topics.

As an hour had passed things were going a little better but avoiding silence was still an effort. Their first real discussion had been about the weather. But since there was really only one kind of weather in southern California and not that many more in Italy that was quickly exhausted. Then he had mentioned Dawn and they talked about her for a while and now he was telling her about the newly revived Angel's Investigations and how Willow had pulled them out of the dirt after the big battle.

They had just been walking and talking without any special direction but apparently Buffy's subconscience had a direction as she suddenly found them standing in front of the Hotel she was staying at.

"This is where you are staying?" He asked reading the expression on her face.

She nodded her head. "Maybe it's best if we take this slow… you know at first. Get used to this."

His head dropped to his chest. "So what happens now?" he almost whispered.

"I guess we say good night and then meet again."

"You want that? Meeting again, I mean." He didn't raise his head and his apparent insecurity was making his voice shake a little.

Buffy stepped closer to him and cupped his cheek in her hand. She didn't know where the sudden burst of determination had come from but didn't care. "Yes, Spike. I want that very much."

Saying his name after all this time, to his face had a mesmerizing effect on her. Their eyes locked and stayed that way until their faces were on a slow but steady path towards collision. Their kiss was a gentle stroke of two sets of lips separated for far too long… but apparently couldn't handle any more separation. Soon tongues were dancing from mouth to mouth, lips bruising and bodies trying to get as close as imaginable with clothes on.

"This isn't slow, pet." Spike uncharacteristically panted as she replaced his lips with the skin of his neck under her lips and was dragging him through the crowded lobby of the hotel towards the elevator.

"I know. She managed to respond between kisses.

"But didn't you just say…"

"I know Spike. I've changed my mind. Now shut up or I'll hit you."

The last thing the audience that had followed this extremely affectionate couple's journey through the lobby saw, was the smaller blond jumping her companion causing him them to fall into the wall behind them with a loud thud just as the elevator doors closed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike and more to come.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.  
**A/N:** Thank you so much for the reviews. They are doing a great job for my ego (which regularly needs boosting).

**Chapter 10**

"Can you please explain this to me one more time, Buffy, because it's just to strange to understand," Willow said with a teasing glint in her eye.

"Alright," the small blond answered patiently. "Me and Spike are going to a motel a couple of miles out of town to do all the boring and depressing stuff we should have done when we first got back together but haven't found the time to do. You know, yell, hit each other, be angry, cry and so on." To top this explanation off she flashed her best friend and sister who were standing behind the front desk at Angel Investigations, a great big smile indicating her absolute happiness with the arrangements.

Willow laughed at her friend's casual tone making this sound as a completely normal weekend activity for a new couple. "Do you think you and Spike could be any more strange if you actually tried?"

"What?" the blond asked and pretended to be shocked. "With all this angst and anger we're also going to have lots and lots of amazing comfort and makeup sex." Buffy's grins were getting to a Spike-ish calibre. "But I wasn't sure if you wanted to know that."

"You couldn't be more perfect for each other." Dawn added leaning on her forearms on the desk and smiling at her sister who in return gave her a pettish pat on the head.

"And where is this stupid vampire anyway. How long can it take to throw a pair of jeans and a couple of T-shirts into a plastic bag?"

As if she was speaking of the devil the blond vampire appeared on the stairs with his duster billowing around his legs and a white plastic bag from the nearest liquor store in his hand. "Ready to get some crying done, luv?" He asked putting his free arm around Buffy's waist and giving her a kiss on the neck.

"Finally," Buffy sighed receiving giggles from the other two girls in the room as she sent them a knowing smile when they headed towards the door.

"Let's go and shag a motel bed to pieces." Spike bellowed before they even reached the door.

"Spike!" Buffy slammed her flat hand into his chest.

"I heard you already told them about that part, pet."

"Oh. But that was just girl talk. You'll so pay for this. Bye guys." Buffy called and then they were out the door.

"I hope they just don't kill each other." Angel said coming out of his office and turning towards Willow, Illyria behind him. "So miss file person of the week. What mess has Spike left for us to clean up while he's away?"

"Well…" Willow started flipping through pile of files on the desk before her. She, Angel and Spike took turns in being secretary since none of them liked it. Illyria was only excluded from this duty because she still couldn't grasp this human need for documentation since she remembered everything. "He actually closed most of his cases. There's only one that he seems to have left especially for you. It's a demon rat plague at this old lady's house – so I think you're better suited for that Angel." She couldn't help but smile apologetically at Illyria, even if the demon didn't show any emotional response to her words.

"Great," the dark haired man sighed and went to the fridge where he poured himself a glass of blood. "Do we have anything else going on?"

Willow followed him with the stack of files she had yet to go through. "The man who claims his wife is a shapeshifter and wants us to verify it so he can use it against her in their divorce."

"Lovely."

"And I opened a file on the disappearances that have been happening at this club downtown. The paper said four recent disappearances have been linked to that club and there was mention of a unidentified yellow substance at the scene in all cases which rings some Willow-supernatural-foul alarm bells. Illyria, this one might be good for you, especially since the disappearances always happen right before sunrise, which is not Angel's favourite time of the day."

"Alright. I will do that tonight," the blue haired woman answered.

"Fine. Maybe try to blend in a little more than last time. Willow, maybe you could give her some points on how to avoid getting into fights with idiots that start bothering her. I'll go start with the old lady ad if I have time I'll check on the shapeshifting wife later. Have a nice girls night."

"This is nice." Dawn said raising herself on to the desk next to the file Illyria was looking over when Angel had gone.

"What? Seeing me chase Angel around the office speaking off scumbags who want a shapeshifting verification to bypass their adultery charges?" She took yet another stack of files and went to file them away in one of the huge file cabinets dominating the wall behind the desk.

"Well the sparkage between you and Angel…" she whistled impressed.

"What?" Willow raised her head form the filing cabinet for a moment. "You are about just as diluted as your sister if you think you saw sparkage there."

"Oh come on. You're all playing matchmaker with Spike and Buffy here and don't try to tell me you never pictured Angel naked when you couldn't sleep."

"Uhm… Gay here… remember?" the file cabinet answered.

"I don't understand what it means that Willow is gay," Illyria asked in between.

"It means that she's sexually interested in women and not in men like most women."

Illyria seemed to be thinking this clarification over so Dawn turned her words back to the gay witch in question.

"But you weren't always… so aren't you more like bi?" The girl didn't allow the witch the time to pull up her jaw from the floor and form a coherent sentence before continuing. "And sometimes you just have to go with what you've got… you wouldn't believe how many times I fantasized about Andrew while he was staying with us… and I don't think Illyria is your type, or is she?"

Illyria's icy eyes shot up at Dawn. Lesser persons would flinched from that glance but the younger girl only smirked and raised her brows playfully without any response from her opponent.

Willow needed a moment to grasp that this was actually happening. That this was actually little Dawn talking to her about sexual orientation and fantasies. After her thought pause she decided not to give any answer to this ridiculous subject. She wasn't fantasizing about Illyria and certainly not Angel.

"But anyway… that wasn't really what I was enjoying… it was the demon and freaky things talk. I miss it. It's strange I know, but it just has been a daily part of my life for so many years now that it's strange not being able to talk about it."

"Yeah. I guess so. I don't really remember a time before vampires and demons," Willow answered a little absent minded due to her sudden feeling of deja-vu.

"I'll raise you. I didn't even exist in the time where I remember not knowing about vampires and demons."

That line she also had heard before and she now remembered from whom. "Fine. You win. So I guess a dark haired guy named Connor didn't talk you at school yet?"

"Who?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike and more to come.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 11**

Angel was sitting at his desk cradling his head in his hands and looking tired when Willow came into the office. "You feeling alright?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yeah. I'll be alright. Scheduling is a real bitch now that Buffy and Spike are constantly running between here, Rome and London and god knows where else you guys are digging up slayers."

"Yeah. That's the downside. But you have to admit that they both look much better now, since they are together."

"Yeah. At least Spike's not passing out in the lobby every night now and Buffy's getting some meat on her bones again. Ready to go to our stake out?"

--

"What is it this time," Willow started asking in the car on the way there. "Another shapeshifting wife, or something else?"

"No. This is actually a friend of that old lady who had the demonic pest problem the other day. She has the strangest feeling that something is always lurking around her house between midnight and four a.m. on Wednesdays. I don't think there's really anything to worry about but she really wanted us to check it out one time."

"So just sitting here and watching if something strange happens?"

"Yep. That's why I brought you along for company. Plus if it's something magicky you might be helpful."

"I like it. Maybe not all nights but it's exciting. My first stakeout."

"Damn. We can't park straight across. Well have to park sideways to the house. I hate that. Having my neck turned all night."

"We could spread out in the back seat."

"It's kinda small. I'm not sure it'll fit us both."

"Oh come on. We can squeeze together. You go first, you're bigger."

Angel gave her a strange look but then proceeded to clumsily get his large body between then suddenly far too small gap between the front seats. Once he had gotten himself fairly comfortable Willow started to go back after him. The back seat bench was indeed very small for the two of them. Angel sat with his back towards one of the doors and one of his legs up on the seat. Willow almost had to sit in his lap.

"Are you alright with this?" He asked. "We can sit up front you know… it's not that bad."

"No, no. This is cosy," she answered leaning her back into his broad chest. "If you don't mind that is."

"No. It's fine by me."

They sat together in silence for a few minutes and just watched the old lady's house. It got boring really soon and Willow was the first one to act against that. "Maybe we could have a talk that I've been planning to have with you."

"Okay. What about?"

"Your soul."

There was no response from Angel.

"You should let me do the spell."

"Willow…" he mumbled sounding tired. Like this was a subject long exhausted between them but Willow would not let this go.

"Yes."

"Willow who ware we to decide… I was cursed… who are we to change that?"

"Actually… I can. Technically you are under the curse I put on you – even if it wasn't my curse. I think I understand what you are talking about, but a hundred years is a long time to suffer. I think even the gypsies would agree to that. Plus you spent another hundred years in Hell… so _I say _that you deserve to have some happiness in your life now and then. There is no reason that you can't repent for your sins while occasionally enjoying a happy moment. Knowing you I'm certain that you're existence is in no danger of becoming perpetual bliss. Secondly we should bind your soul because that damn happiness clause has caused too much trouble already not to be permanently eliminated and third: I can turn this into a guilt trip on you because all the incidents that have happened since I restored your soul for the first time can be considered my fault. If it weren't for me you would either be dead or maybe still stuck in hell."

"Fine. I'll think about it."

"Ok. You think about it. But think hard mister. I won't give up until I've convinced you that this is the right thing to do… and there's absolutely nothing going to happen around this house we're watching."

After a while of silence watching the quiet house Angel realized that Willow's yawns become more frequent and finally he noticed that she had fallen asleep in his arms. Instinctively he started tightening his grip around her waist but loosening it again when he realized what he was doing. But to his surprise sleeping Willow responded by pushing herself again closer against him so he tightened his grip again.

"Uhmm… nice pillow…" she murmured in her sleep and Angel smiled to himself. Somehow this made him think about what the red haired witch lying in his arms had said before. Maybe it was time to consider her offer for real.


	12. Chapter 12

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor and more to come.  
**Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 12**

This was it. This was officially the strangest thing he had ever done. And he was feeling nervous. The worst case scenario was that she would think he was crazy and he'd made a fool of himself. He could live with that so here it goes.

"Hi? You're Dawn, right?" He asked the brown haired girl flipping through a textbook over her lunch.

"You must be Connor," she answered closing the book in front of her.

"Mind if I sit?" He asked pointing at the chair opposite her.

"Not at all. I guess we've heard of each other."

"Willow told you about me?"

She nodded trying to swallow the bite she had just taken off her sandwich. "Mentioned that you seemed a little hesitant to talk to me."

"Normally I'm not shy at all but… but going up to a pretty girl and asking her if she knows about vampires and demons is not really my idea of an ideal chat-up line."

Dawn laughed. "Yeah, it's a bit strange I guess. So congratulations, you did it. And nice with the "pretty" slip in."

"My pleasure. Both is it entirely true and it was supposed to be a sort of backup plan. If you didn't know anything about demons and vampires and thought I was crazy that you would just notice the pretty part and think that this was a really strange come-on."

"Isn't it?"

"Maybe a little. But only in a platonic way."

"Of course."

"So how come you know about vampires and that all?"

"It's sort of the family business. My sister's the Slayer… or _a_ slayer like is politically correct now," she answered.

"Isn't she one of Angel's old girlfriends?" he asked in return.

"Yeah. Big time. But now she's with another vampire. How come you know?"

"I'm kind of strong... like really strong and when my parents found out they were kinda freaked and wanted explanations so we ended up in Angel's office."

"So you're a demon?"

"No. I seem to be just human with powers."

"Cool. So what's you're major?"

* * *

Dawn worriedly looked over at Connor who was sitting next to her. She saw him look over at the couple at the other end of the couch but then quickly turning his eyes back to the TV in front of them and squirming a little in his seat. She had warned him, when asking for his help, that movie night with her roommate Courtney and her boyfriend Hart could be worse than icky. Maybe she had been a little two forward in asking him. Two weeks wasn't that long a time to form a friendship that could take a situation like this.  
When the couple at the other end of the couch started giggling on top of being totally caught in their impossibly limb tangled world, she couldn't help but apologize for their behavior. She leaned closer to Connor and whispered into his ear.

"I'm sorry about them. I should have warned you more. I think they like having an audience."

"It's okay." He whispered back and they turned their attentions towards the movie. Unbelievably the loving couple did so as well, for a while.

"Why do vampires in movies always have their victims under some kind of thrall? It's so rare to find a vampire who can do that… and it's kinda lame, don't you think?" Dawn was again whispering to Connor's ear and leaning into him.

He just laughed at her, put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer towards him. She happily snuggled into this new position and rested her head on his shoulder on and off whispering a realist's commentary into his ear as further questionable assumptions of vampire culture were displayed.

Due to their not so understanding company they kept their own commentary and laughs to themselves as much as possible and didn't burst into a total incapacitating laughing fit until nearing the end of the movie when the vampire started tucking himself into his coffin.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Courtney asked annoyed when both Dawn and Connor were almost rolling on the floor from laughter. "There's nothing funny about this, it's really creepy." That just made the dark haired pair laugh even harder.

"Well that was fun. We should do this again some time," Dawn said sarcastically when the movie finally came to an end. "And definitely another vampire movie, don't you think Connor."

"Absolutely," he gloated back at her.

Courtney and Hart finally managed to untangle themselves form their entwined position on the couch. "Yeah right, like I'm ever gonna watch another vampire movie with you two," she said. "You have issues."

Dawn tried to stop herself form laughing. "What? This was great. Or we could just have our own show." With that she grabbed Connor's shoulder and turned him towards her. "Oh Connor," she overacted. "Bite me!"

Amazingly enough he caught on to her game and agreed to play along. "Oh Dawn. I can't help myself. You must have me under some kind of thrall. I can't resist you." For dramatic effect he slang an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him while his other hand brushed her long hair away form her neck. Then he lowered his lips to her neck.

Dawn hadn't actually expected him to go this far with their little charade but it was funny and not exactly unpleasant. And when she felt his tongue run over the sensitive skin on her neck she couldn't help but let a little moan of pleasure escape her lips.  
The low sound brought them back to reality and reluctantly they moved away from each other and found Courtney and Hart gawking openmouthly at them like they were the most hideous animal at the zoo.

"Please, just get a room." Courtney pleaded before taking Hart's hand and leading him into her bedroom.

"I'll walk you back to your room," Dawn offered after yet another laughing fit.

Connor's room wasn't that far away, but far enough for the silence between them to become a little…. brow raising.

"I'm sorry," he finally broke the silence.

"For what?"

"That before…"

"Oh, you mean when you licked my neck and I moaned like a phone-sex whore and things got kind of weird between us?"

"Yes except, that I wouldn't have called you a phone-sex operator."

"I think that the movie just made us a little wonky," she supplied.

"I guess." He stopped in front of his door but made no move to open it.

"Aren't you gonna?" she asked looking over at the door but he still didn't move towards it.

Instead he came towards her and lowered his lips to hers.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope this was alright. I'm not quite as confident about this chapter as the others because this is something I only wrote a few of weeks ago, around the time when I decided that I actually wanted to post this story. I started writing this story in October last year so most of the chapters have been written, rewritten, proofread, rewritten again and proofread twice or more often. But this one I had to fix a lot just now but I hope it doesn't show too much. It was either that or skip it, and I thought it was kind of sweet and didn't want to skip it. Anyway, I hope you keep reading!


	13. Chapter 13

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor and more to come.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 13**

Once again they had a full house at the Hyperion. Actually that and then some, since not only Buffy and Spike were back after a six week stay in London working for the new council, but Angel had invited Dawn and Connor over to have dinner with the whole gang.

Willow was looking forward to finally having an opportunity to see Dawn and Connor together. Since the moment she realized what these two had in common, everything she felt was telling her that a match between them was a match made in heaven.

Unfortunately there had been no official announcement from either one of them of having a boyfriend or girlfriend, but she knew for a fact that they had met a few times and spent some time together.

Tonight Willow was going to keep a watchful eye on them to check if her instincts were right. Ever since the time she had caught Xander and Cordelia making out in the library, totally unaware of something going on between the two of them, she had tried to notice signs of such behaviour better. That had obviously not worked when Buffy and Spike had their affair. But now, with magic on her side, she thought she could rely more on her instincts.

So far though, her instincts were wrong or the couple were extremely good actors. She knew that they had ridden down from Stanford together in Connor's car but other than that there had been no significant contact between them. Not unusually much nor a noticeable lack of it.

It got late and Angel suggested that Dawn and Connor spent the night instead of driving back to school in the middle of the night, even if the three habitable guestrooms were currently unavailable due to renovations. Connor could crash on Angel's sofa and Dawn with Willow.

The red haired witch didn't waist much time going around what was on her mind when the girls were settled in Willow's room. "So how are you and Connor getting along?" she asked.

"Fine. He's nice."

This was all the confirmation Willow needed: A too short and too indifferent answer. A smirk formed on her face. "Fine, huh? Just fine?"

Dawn knew that they were as good as busted. "Willow?"

"Uhhm…"

"What do you think Buffy would say if she knew I was dating Angel's son?"

"So you are together?" Willow asked for final confirmation.

"This is our first night apart in two months. I'm not sure I'm even gonna be able to sleep."

"And you haven't told Buffy?"

"Well, she obviously knows Connor, but she doesn't know who he really is. I know it will come out sooner or later but I don't know how she'll react to that and I feel more comfortable straight out not telling her rather than the half truth."

Willow sighed. She didn't like that Dawn was keeping big secrets from her sister, but she did understand where the girl was coming from with this.  
"She would probably freak a little… or a lot at first. But she'll come to her senses… eventually. "

"I know," the brunette replied. "We will tell her… eventually."

Their talk was disturbed by Dawn's phone vibrating on the bedside table to announce a text message. "Connor says he can't sleep. He'll miss my snoring. Isn't that sweet?"

Willow's face wasn't big enough for her happy smile. "If you want I could change places with him? I don't really have the heart to keep you two apart."

Dawn tried to protest but Willow was already putting on her robe and grabbing her book of the bedside table.

* * *

A few minutes later Willow was climbing into Angel's bed compromising on that they could share the bed. It was big enough for both of them and neither could accept that the other one would sleep on the sofa.

Angel listened to Willows breath slowing and evening into a deep regular rhythm within just minutes. He himself was rather restless. The news of Connor's and Dawn's relationship were exciting to him. He was happy for them. They would be good together. But more troubling to him was the fact that no position seemed comfortable for him to lie in. At last, after trying every variation of not facing Willow's back, he gave that a chance and managed to drift to sleep.

* * *

Apparently Buffy and Spike were still a little wanky in the head because of changing time zones since they were, for a very unusual change, the first one up the next morning. And if they were up the others, in their opinion, could wake up too. They started by going to Willow's room in order to wake Dawn and have breakfast with her.

Buffy knocked gently on the door and then proceeded to open it.

/_A/N: WARNING the next four paragraphs stretch towards the upper limit of the T rating or even cross it. If you are very sensitive to sexual themes you might consider skipping them. This is one of two short parts of the story where I wasn't totally comfortable with a T rating but didn't want to put an M on the whole thing just for a few paragraphs./_

There was no way she could ever have been prepared for the sight that met her. Dawn was kneeling in the middle of the bed. Connor sat with his back slightly raised against the headboard with his hands in Dawn's hair. Dawn's head was lowered approximately to Connor's lap, where it was rhythmically bobbing up and down.

Buffy didn't need to be explained what was going on in front of her, she had done it to Spike often enough. The last time not an hour ago. But walking in on her sister doing it to s boy made her head shut down completely. And Connor's muffled moans as he tried to get Dawn to stop when he noticed their audience, didn't help at all.

"We never should have had that conversation about size," was the only thing Buffy managed to say when Dawn had finally stopped and turned her head towards the door, one hand going over her chest covering her bare breasts and the other one coming up to her face wiping her mouth.

Finally Buffy was pulled out of the room by Spike.

"Put on some clothes, nibblet," the blond vampire said in an icy voice obviously trying to restrain himself from bursting out before closing the door behind him and Buffy.

In the hallway Buffy was already getting a grip on herself again… or at least trying to. "It's nothing bad. An unpleasant experience, but it's just a boyfriend… who has a pulse…" she tried convincing herself.

Spike, who had seemed calm inside, was now completely loosing it. "Just a boyfriend? What do you mean? Did you see what they were doing? She's not even supposed to know about people doing that?"

"Ehhm… Spike cool down. You watch Dr. Phil enough to know that teenager's today know about this and are doing this much younger than she is."

"OTHER teenager's are doing it… she's not supposed to… not supposed to have a boyfriend…. Not supposed to be in bed with him….. I'm gonna kill her."

To Buffy's surprise Spike didn't try to storm the room they had just come out of but instead stormed off down the hall towards Angel's door, on which he didn't bother to knock before entering.

Compared to what they had just witnessed the sight that they met in this room was not unsettling at all even if under other circumstances the intimacy would have raised some brows. Angel and Willow were asleep firmly entwined on the bed.

Spike's voice did not leave much room to sleep. "What not up yet… or maybe some parts are" he said glancing a look at Angel's crotch which seemed much more awake than the rest of him. As Angel started to regain some consciousness he quickly let go of Willow and moved away from her.

"And what?" Spike continued. "She not sucking you yet…. Gotta fix that. You don't wanna be the only guy here not getting a good blow this morning, do you Peaches?"

Angel growled. "What the hell are you yelling about Spike? I don't want to know what you and Buffy do in the morning…."

Buffy blushed but no-one noticed. Spike was rambling on Willow now.

"So, what's it gonna be, Red? You gonna be a good girl and get on your knees soon, or you just put innocent young girls to sleep with testosterone filled guys?"

Buffy finally had enough. "Spike, I think that's enough. Let's go somewhere else and cool down a bit." She grabbed his arm and started tugging him out of the room. She turned her head towards Angel and Willow. "Sorry about this. He's a little upset."

After Spike had pummelled through one punchbag down in the basement Buffy decided he was calm enough to come upstairs again. They found the rest of the gang sitting in the kitchen enjoying breakfast in a happy and casual atmosphere. That changed rapidly as the two blonds came to the room.

Dawn stood up and took the lead. "Buffy, Spike. Sit." She ordered. "So this came out a little sooner than I had planned to… and a lot differently than I had imagined… but here it is. I have a boyfriend. His name is Connor, he's a great guy and he's sitting over there." She made an unnecessary gesture of presenting her guy to the pair in front of her. "We are both of legal age, we really like each other, he has a pulse and we use protection. That should leave you nothing to worry about. Any questions."

Buffy was dumbstruck at her suddenly adult sister. Spike on the other hand was starting to give Connor the third degree. "How old are you? Do you have a car? Do you drink? Do you smoke?"

"Spike you smoke!" Dawn intervened.

"I know, bit. But the question is, does he?" he said fixing his glare up on Connor again.

"No."

"What do you're parent's do?"

Connor shot a look, first at Angel then at Dawn, but then proceed to answer Spike's question without hesitation. "My mother is a high school maths teacher and my father owns a construction company.

Spike seemed to be satisfied with the answer but before he could voice his next question Dawn stopped him. "No, Connor. I won't let you do this. We're not gonna tell half the truth. Buffy, I hope you appreciate it. What he said is true, but Angel is his biological father."

* * *

Spike and Buffy were down in the training room again. This time it was Buffy who was beating the punching bag to a pulp. Spike just watched from the side and listened to her angry ramblings.

"This is not right. Does she do this just to annoy me? 'Do anything you want with your life' I say. She has the chance. She has the grades. We can get the money. But no, what does she do? She asks Giles what she needs to become a watcher! I say get a nice boyfriend. I say he has to have a pulse. Foolish me not to especially stipulate that it has to apply for two generations…." Buffy was slowing down a little. Probably getting tired after having been at it on full throttle for almost two hours now. "Why can't she just… just be normal…" With a final blow the bag loosened from it's fastenings and flew across the room landing with a small thud which consided with Buffy letting herself fall limply down on the training mat she had been standing on burying her face in her hands.

Spike sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms. "Oh Buffy. Pet. This is what she wants. And she's just as normal as the rest of us."

"We're not normal Spike."

"Of course we are. You just don't see it. You can eat endless amounts of chocolate ice-cream and have too many pairs of shoes. I like Passions and Manchester United. Willow's afraid of needles. Angel likes bloody Barry Manilow … Dawn looks up to her sister and her friends and wants to join the family trade… and she happens to like a boy she met at collage."

"You're really okay with this. Her dating Angel's son? Who was raised in a Hell dimension even if he has some memories overwriting that?"

"I can't say that I'm thrilled of his family tree. He spent some time in a Hell dimension but remembers a normal childhood. She spent thousands of years as a ball of glowing energy but has memories of a normal childhood. You could say that they've got something in common." He took a short pause giving Buffy a minute to contemplate what he had said. "But this is normal to her. She doesn't know anything else… and she doesn't seem to mind. You heard what Red said. She introduced them to each other because both were complaining about not being around people who knew about demons. But she has a choice, Buffy, she could walk away from all this. You've given her plenty of opportunities. She just doesn't want to. She has the choice you never had. But that doesn't mean she has to take it. You have to come to terms with that."

"I hate it when people go all psychology deep on me…. And their right." She slowly freed herself from his arms and stood up before reaching out a hand and pulling Spike up. "I guess I just have to live with it. At least he can protect her."

Just at that moment Dawn and Connor dared to peek into the training room seeing if it was relatively safe. "Look Buffy…." She started defensively.

"Don't Dawn," the slayer stopped her. "It's all right… I'm calming down," she added as she the apprehension on their faces. Slowly she walked over to Connor and stood directly in front of him taking on her most intimidating stance. "You should know…" she started in a stern but cool voice. "…that I put a sword through your father and sent him to hell and wouldn't have had any guilt about staking your mother. If you do _anything_ to hurt my sister, I have no problem turning to the next generation."

"Yes m'am," Connor replied like on trial.

"And don't ever call me ma'm!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor and more to come.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.  
**A/N: **I want to thank mendenbar for pointing out to me the factual error in the last chapter. I've fixed it. But not all is over yet because in this next chapter there's also a little inconsistency with the show. So for this chapter let's pretend that Willow and Lorne never met during the AtS season 4 episode Orpheus when Willow ensouls Angel. They are never actually seen on screen together but probably they did meet.

**Chapter 14**

Willow was furious. She was angry, hurt, jealous, sad, happy. All of this, or maybe none of it. Generally upset would probably cover it though… very upset. And just how upset she was just doubled her agitation.

"Angel" she yelled as soon as she came into the lobby of the hotel. Apparently he and Illyria weren't back from their overnight trip to San Francisco.

"Buffy?" she tried hopefully but again, no answer. Her and Spike weren't expected back from their council duties until tomorrow night. Since they weren't here she was alone. Angel and Illyria were due to get back from their out of town case later tonight but she was upset now. Needed someone to talk to now.

Seeing him again, without any warning had been intense. Ridiculously upsetting considering how long it had been. She had thought her issues with him were gone. She couldn't explain why this little incident, the plain and basic 'Hi's and 'How are you's they exchanged, could have affected it her so much. Maybe it was just because it was a Tuesday. But never the less she was upset. The pair of soft sparkling blue eyes belonging to that red haired guitarist from her past that she had accidentally bumped into at the bookstore down the street had upset her.

She was too upset to be at the hotel. She had tried staying in her room but found that she couldn't sit still. And for pacing back and forth the room was too small. But pacing in the empty lobby where here footsteps echoed through the air felt too lonely and depressing. So after a while of restless fiddling around she decided to do something. She was going to go out. Running into an old boyfriend would not dampen her spirits that much that she couldn't have some fun, even if she was on her own.

She decided to check out the new club that had opened a few weeks ago and was just a couple of blocks away. The club was the new hip and cool normal people club in town. Actually it was much too sparkly and trendy for Willows usual taste. Normally she would have gone somewhere more low key and simple. Something like the Bronze had been. But tonight this I.C. place was exactly what she wanted. Tonight she was going to have fun and headed straight for the bar as soon as she was inside. Sipping on her cosmopolitan, trying not to frown while getting used to the taste of the alcohol, she scanned the place. The music was booming and the dance floor was packed but somehow there was something missing. It didn't look fun enough.

A deep voiced "Hey" interrupted her thoughts. "what a pretty little thing I have here. Aren't I the lucky one tonight," a tanned, bleached blond wearing a armless way too tight t-shirt and far too low hanging baggy pants, asked her obviously trying to impress.

"Uuuhg." She just managed to shudder and took another sip of her drink. Even if she hadn't been gay, this was exactly the type of guy that she would rather have cut off her right thumb than date. So she thought she'd just tell him the truth.

"I'm sorry, but I'm gay."

"Jackpot. That's just way hot." The stupid guy just got more excited. "So we can have a threesome…. Man this is a good night. I knew this was going to be a good night…"

"This is why I hate these places," Willow muttered as she got off the bar stool she'd been sitting on, threw back the rest of her drink and stormed out of the club.

The fresh air did her good. It was refreshing. And the constant blinking lights inside had been hurting her eyes and making her feel all strange. But she was still feeling antsy and didn't want to go home just yet. Maybe a walk would help her clear her head. After walking a few blocks the effects of the speedy cosmopolitan that had through her empty stomach gone quite a bit to her head, started to fade a little and she realized that she wasn't so sure anymore where exactly she was. Well she knew that she was on a quiet rather deserted and dark street somewhere in Los Angeles. And suddenly it occurred to her that maybe this wasn't the best place to be all alone at this hour of the night.

Looking around for any sign of possible danger she reached into her purse and put a tight grip around the stake she kept there. She knew that if it came to it, magic was a much better chance for her, but it was nice to have something tangible to hold on to. She just focused of trying to get somewhere where it was a little more crowded. As she at least neared a better lit part of the street she suddenly felt a strange pull to the place she was walking past. Looking up she met a flashing sign. _Caritas._ She had heard about this place. It was a demon bar. With this really great protection spell. Maybe she should check it out? Well since she was already here it wouldn't hurt, plus she would probably feel much more at home here than at that other club.

There was no earth shaking techno beat blasting through the place and no blinking lights, so it definitely was a step up. And a far more interesting clientele… and apparently staff, she thought as she was approached by a friendly green skinned and red horned demon clad in a ridiculously colourful suit.

"Welcome to Caritas, sweetie pie. What can I do for you?"

"A drink?"

"Oh, you should really try one of Andy's Sea breezes. He's close to perfecting the art."

"Is it you know… human friendly?"

"Oh. Pumpkin, of course. I wouldn't offer you something I didn't think you could handle. I'm Lorne by the way."

"Willow." She replied.

"What a pretty name. So how a bout giving the sea breeze a try? I can sense a mile off that you need it."

Soon she was comfortably and alone seated at a nice table slurping the delicious drink the host had recommended and finally relaxing a little. It was a strange mixture she thought, demons of various kinds along with a few humans and old disco tunes humming in the background. And to top it all once in a while someone from the crowd would go up on stage and sing a song. Not all were good singers. Some had obviously done it before but others could barely hold a tune. But she didn't care, those ones Willow admired even more for their bravery. Even if it was one of her greatest fears to stand up on a stage and sing she could see the appeal in it. Being the centre of attention for a good reason and enjoying it would probably give one a great rush.

She noticed that as soon as anyone had gone up to sing they talked to Lorne right afterwards and those conversations didn't seem to be about Andy's magic with the cocktail shaker. She decided to ask Lorne about it the next time he came over to chat to her.

"You can see people's future when they sing for you?" Willow asked astounded.

"Well not really their future. Not always. Sometimes I can give little hints about which way to turn. But I see people's hearts. If they're good or bad for example… and often what is troubling them."

"And you can help with that?"

"Sometimes I can. Something troubling you, cup cake?"

"Maybe…"

"Well. What would you like to sing then?"

" Oh, can't sing… and publicly…no, no, no, no good idea."

"What a pity. I would've loved to read you. I get this strange familiarity vibe from you. And I'm not just saying…"

Soon after this her fourth sea breeze, that she didn't think she had ordered, came to her table. She should maybe slow down on them a little but they were just so yummy.

Half an hour later the glass was empty on her table and Willow up on the stage and half way through Waterloo, having a blast, when Lorne pulled her down.

"I think this will do sweetie. We don't want Björn and Benny to have to come all the way from Sweden to sue us for mistreating their song.

"But it was so fun." Willow panted with enthusiasm.

"Yes sweetie. I hope it was because I hope this will be your only time. But let's get to the point. I nearly fainted from shock when you chimed those two first notes and that was not because of your singing. No wonder you felt familiar. What are you doing here sweetie. Why aren't you home with your Angelcake's? You two could be so happy. Why are you wasting your time here? Actually I've already called a taxi for you."

"So you didn't see any of my future. Or some advice for what is on my mind?"

"Honey, I'm telling you what I saw. Angel and Angel and nothing but Angel. He is the only thing on your mind. He is your future. Don't waste time being unhappy when you could be happy.

* * *

When Willow got home, Angel was rearranging some files on the desk.

"Angel!" She yelled happily. "You're back!" and took a sharp unexpected turn the other way before regaining control over her limbs again and correcting her course.

"Willow are you drunk?"

"Maybe I am… but just a little. I think these sea breezes might be a bit more on a stormy rather than breezy side."

"Sea breeze?"

"Well I was a little upset and had no one to talk to so I went out to have a little fun…"

"And did you find it?"

"Well at first I went to this new club. And there was this guy there and these lights and it was all so loud and my drink wasn't even that good and it was all just…"

"Okay. Maybe we should just get you to bed." He starts steering her towards the stairs and up to her room.

"You wanna hear something funny, Angel?"

"Sure."

"I went to this bar tonight…"

Oh really, he thought to himself. It's not like the alcohol on her breath wouldn't be enough to intoxicate a small person.

"…and I had to sing Karaoke."

"Well… that must have been fun."

"Yeah, it kind of was. Which is strange since I've always been terrified of being on stage… but that wasn't the funny part."

"Ok. Then what was?"

"So it's really funny. Because there was this green demon and when I finished singing…"

Willow didn't notice but Angel's face was like carved in stone.

"… he said that we were supposed to be together… that there was nothing but you in my soul….and he even knew your name, isn't that strange?"

Angel just turned away and bade her good night before closing the door behind him.

He leaned back on the door dead serious. For a minute he let himself remember what Willow had just told him and a smile formed on his face. But that only lasted a minute and then the serious look was back.


	15. Chapter 15

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor and more to come.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 15**

Willow woke up to a knock on a door. A knock that just seemed to echo infinitely in her head. She imagined that it had to be Angel who was beating down her door. But inviting him in was proving to require too much effort. It took her two tries to actually put enough voice behind her thoughts so he could hear it, even with vampire hearing and all.

"Good morning," Angel said in an exaggerated cheerful tone and she could actually hear the smirk on his face. "How are you doing this morning?"

"Thinking that it can't possibly be morning yet and also trying to remember a spell that removes one's head from the body.

"Well that was to be expected considering how you were last night. What happened to you Willow?"

The red head tucked the sheet over her head to hide her blush over the things that were coming back to her memory. "I guess overreacted a little. But I was just really upset."

"Over what?"

"I saw Oz," Willow muffled still not ready to face the world above the sheets. "I just bumped into him at the bookshop and it was a little awkward… okay so really strange… and then I had no one to talk about it with because you weren't back yet and Buffy not here… so I went out for a drink…that became a few more."

Angel had enough of her hiding and pulled the sheet off her face. "Last night you said something about a green demon."

Willow had to think a little. Her memories hadn't reached that far into the night catching up with her. "Oh yeah, that was funny. So finally I went to this bar, _Caritas_. I kinda stumbled up on it but I had heard of it before because of this protection spell they use there so that…"

"Violence can't be done there, I know."

"Yes. So I wanted to check it out and the host in the place was this nice green guy – I really should have asked him where he was from…"

"He's from another dimension. It's called Pylea. The rest of his family isn't as nice. You sang for him?"

"Yeah. I can't believe that I actually did it though. I didn't even know that it was a karaoke bar but he really wanted me to sing and I had had all these drinks so I did…" she starts giggling at the thought of what comes next. "… then he tells me that my soul is full of you and that we should be together. Isn't that strange… wait you've met his family?"

"His name is Lorne. He used to work with us at Wolfram & Hart, and also before that, but in the end it was too hard on him. I thought he was going to leave town, but apparently he reopened _Caritas_ once more."

"He's reopened before?"

"Well, I wrecked the place a couple of times or so. And Willow…I think you need to fasten my soul permanently."

"Oh. Ok. Finally…. But has this something to do with this green guy? And what he said about us because I…."

"Yes …. What he sees is very reliable… but I also want you to do it because I would like what he told you to come true."

"Oh."


	16. Chapter 16

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor, Willow/Angel.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.

**Chapter 16**

"So what do you wanna talk about?" Buffy asked leaning back into her chair and putting her feet on the other chair she had brought to the garden in front of the hotel to soak in the last rays of sun that day and have a girl chat with Willow.

"Right. Talk…" Willow answered nervously. She wasn't absolutely positive that Buffy was the right person to talk to this about but she didn't really have any other options.

"Did something happen while I was away?" Buffy was getting nervous about how nervous Willow seemed to be. "This isn't about Dawn and Connor, is it? Because if he…"

"No, no. Nothing really happened… well of course something always happens, but nothing specifically I know of with Dawn and Connor," Willow rambled before trying to get her act together and sat on the edge of the empty fountain. "This is about me…"

"Ok."

"… and Angel." The witch admitted.

"So something finally happened between you two. I knew that after finding you in his bed… even if you weren't doing anything then that something would eventually come to be." Buffy said cheerily.

"No, nothing actually happened…"

"But you said?"

"Thing always happened but nothing happening happened."

The blond shook her head confused. "You've lost me."

"I got drunk. That's what happened."

Buffy's face lit up in realization. "And you slept with Angel? After binding his soul?"

"No. Actually. First I bumped into Oz."

"Oh. So Angel saw you two together, got the wrong idea, suppressed his jealousy with his tremendous self punishment desire so you got disappointed and got drunk?"

"Not quite, but you're getting warm."

"Why don't you fill me in then?" Buffy had lost her patience and Willow finally managed to make enough sense of the events of the past two days to express them to someone in a way that they would understand.

"Are you telling me that Angel finally agreed to let you bind his soul because of some green karaoke bar owner who said that you two were meant to be together?" Buffy summarized what her friend had just told her.

"Not in those exact words, but you got the point."

"So what's wrong?" Buffy asked, once again confused.

"Uhm… apparently a big hunky vampire with a not yet permanent soul is in love with a gay witch?"

"But you can make his soul permanent."

"That only leaves the gay problem."

Buffy's brows wrinkled in thought. "You're not in love with Angel?" she asked with caution.

"I don't usually call girls hunky."

The slayer laughed out loud. "You are not seriously going to try to make me believe that you don't love Angel?"

"This comes as a shock to you?" Willow asked surprised.

"Maybe not a shock, but a surprise. I never would have thought that you would deny your feelings."

"What feelings. I don't have any of those feelings. I can't! He's not even of the right sex, for starters."

"You weren't always gay, Willow," Buffy answered sternly and edged her sunglasses to the tip of her nose for emphasis. "And I thought it was the person you were supposed to fall in love with, not the sex… although the sex can be very nice."

"But hey, gay now… even with no sex." Willow was on her feet again pacing back and forth through Buffy's sun.

"Okay. When we go inside we just perform a little experiment. First you kiss me and then you kiss Angel and see which one you like better."

"Buffy? Are you crazy? I'm not kissing you!"

"Why not?"

"Because we're friends."

"So?"

"It would be weird. And I'm not kissing Angel either for that matter."

"Oh come on, Willow. Haven't you ever thought about what it would be like? I mean, you shared a bed with him – and you two looked comfy enough doing it. Didn't you wonder at all what it would be like to really be in bed with him? And before you sing that tune again you're not that gay. He's gorgeous and I know you know that, so don't try to deny it."

Willow obviously struggled trying to find a good comeback but finally gave in. "Okay, maybe I have a little that one time when I fell asleep on him in the car and drooled on his chest."

"So you're not totally grossed out by the thought of kissing him?"

"Buffy, I'm not blind, but that's not the issue here…"

The sun had just passed behind the building on the opposite side of the street so Buffy hauled up her two chairs and went inside with Willow, still in slight shock form Buffy's outrageous suggestion, tagging behind. In the lobby the two vampires and one ancient demon were getting ready to go out for patrol.

A smile spread on Buffy's face when she saw that all essential members were present. "Hi guys. So glad to see you. You're just what we need for a little experiment."

It didn't take Willow long to catch on to what her friend was talking about. "Buffy, are you crazy?"

"No. I'm not the one who's confused, that's you, and this is going to fix it, trust me."

"But…" Willow was struggling to find an actual response to this ridiculous suggestion. "What about Spike. I don't want him to kill me."

Buffy just waived a hand at her friend. "He won't mind you kissing me as long as he gets to watch."

"Oh, yeah." The blond vampire responded, excitement obvious in his voice. "You two are going to… oh yeah." The images had obviously started flowing through his brain.

"No…" Willow started but was interrupted by Buffy.

"Or you could try Illyria if you don't want me."

"I'm not sure if I will like it, but I am curious." Illyria answered.

Willow's eyes widened even further and she seemed close to having an attack of some sort but managed to pull back from it and tried her last weapon: her resolved face. "I'm not kissing anyone here, get it?"

Willow's resolved face was however no match for Slayer strength that had grabbed her arm and decidedly pulled her towards the smaller girl who gently stroked Willows cheek.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to kiss a girl," Buffy whispered just before the girls' lips touched gently. After a few moments Willow finally decided to finally give in, relaxed a little and started kissing her best friend back. The kiss wasn't by any means intense or especially long.

"That was very nice." Buffy commented once they broke apart.

"Yeah." Willow agreed. "Nice."

"No sparks though."

"No."

"Good so try Angel now."

The vampires were both surprised by the Slayers suggestion although they both managed to recover long before Willow who just stood there opening and closing her mouth in an unsuccessful attempt to object."

"Oh for God's sake." Buffy sighed when no one moved. "He's just over there. It's not so hard," she said to Willow and gave her a healthy shove in the right direction. Angel reacted with vampire speed and caught the falling girl in his arms.

The rest of the world seemed lost to the couple as Willow tried to regain her footing and Angel mimicked Buffy's earlier actions by stroking Willow's cheek before lowering his face towards hers and their lips met.

Buffy watched smiling as the kiss within seconds turned into something far more than her own kiss had been. She leaned back into Spike, who was now standing behind her with his arms around her waist and planted small kisses on her neck, and enjoyed the sight of her two friends finally finding their way towards much deserved happiness.

Buffy made a loud cheering whistle as the witch and vampire separated their mouths. Amazingly Willow was the first to speak: "Wow," even if it was a one-vowel word.

"Yeah. Wow." Angel agreed tightening the hold that he still had on the girl in his arms.

"That looked a lot better than just nice." Buffy cut in breaking the spell that still remained between the couple before her.

"Oh my God." Willow sighed when she took her eyes away from Angels. "Oh my God." The red-head broke out of the embrace she was being held in, ran up the stairs and accented her departure by slamming her bedroom door behind her.

Angel was dumbstruck and sent a questioning look at Buffy.

"Don't worry. She'll come around. I'll talk to her. She was just kinda surprised because you're a guy. Just leave it to me. You go out patrol. I'll take care of the complicated love stuff."

She practically shoved the two vampires out the front door thrusting a couple of axes at them and kissing the blond one of them goodbye. Illyria followed. Then Buffy turned around, took a deep breath and strode officiously through the lobby and up the stairs.


	17. Chapter 17

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor, Willow/Angel.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.  
**A/N: **Here comes the last real chapter of this story. There is a short epilogue but then it's done.

**Chapter 17**

"So how you wanna do this?" Willow cut right to the chase when she entered Angel's room at the time that they had managed to schedule for his soul fastening without once making eye contact. She was extremely nervous. Her voice was shaky, her heart raced, her palms were sweaty and she all but dropped the things she was holding her hands were shaking so much.

"I don't know. I don't know exactly what it is that you're going to do."

"Yeah. Right, the spell." She looked up and their eyes met for the first time since their kiss yesterday. "It's called band of gold and can be used to bind just about anything. It is possible to break, but it's really hard except for the one who builds it in the first place… and I'll try to make it so that if that would happen, you wouldn't loose your soul you would just go back to the curse. It's fairly simple to do. It's just some incantations then some balm, so you'll have to take off your shirt, and then some more incantations."

"Okay." He stripped his shirt over his head and sat down at the edge of this bed. "This alright or should I lie down?"

"No, it's fine," Willow answered mouth slightly ajar looking at his bare torso, which she had seen many times before, but somehow had managed to escape her attention. She came to from her daydream and set the jar with the balm up at the bedside table and opened her notebook to find the incantation.

She ceremoniously cleared her throat and started chanting in Latin. After a few phrases a light blue shimmer emerged around Angel's body. Willow picked up the jar from the table and smeared a good handful of the dark greenish yuk on his chest. Another handful went on his forehead. Then there was some more chanting and the blue light disappeared into Angel.

"You feel any different?" the witch asked.

"Yes. I can feel the bond. It's kind of strange."

"Good."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Even if Angel didn't have to breathe he could feel the air in the room become thicker and thicker by the second.

"I think I'm gonna take a shower and get this stuff off me. That's okay isn't it? What is this by the way?"

"Sure, it's fine and you don't want to know."

* * *

Later Angel found Willow down in the lobby where she was talking business with Spike and Buffy.

"Alright, honey," Buffy said to Spike grabbing his arm and almost pulling him away from his conversation with Willow and towards the door. "Let's give them a little space… you know if they wanna do it here in the middle of the lobby, or something."

Willow's blush almost matched her hair colour. "What's up?" she asked in a futile attempt at casualness.

"Willow…" he started hesitantly. "We should talk."

"I guess so," she sighed in defeat and sat down on the round sofa in the middle of the lobby. "It's just so weird you know, you and me… I've never really thought about you that way… and then all of the sudden someone tells me my soul is full of you and I'm binding your soul."

"If you don't want to, we don't have to…"

"Oh I want to… that kiss… I want to. I'm just not used to the thought yet."

"Okay. So we can maybe start out slow. Like a date… say Friday?"

"Ok. Good. Friday."

"Friday."

"But…" Willow stood up again and warily took a step in Angel's direction. "That's like…. 3 days…Wednesday… Thursday and…."

"Friday…" he continued for her also taking a step in her direction. "that's maybe a little… or way too."

"Long." Willow finished covering the leftover space between them and locking her lips on his that hungrily responded.

Before she knew it she was pulling up his shirt from his pants and he had unhooked her bra before he even got the shirt over her head. They were moving, And as she wanted nothing more than for him to rip her shirt to pieces and use that talented mouth on the nipple his fingers were currently teasing she felt her feet lose their ground. He swung her into his arms and carried her behind the reception desk and lowered her gently to the ground where he continued exactly where he had left off.


	18. Chapter 18

**Picking up the pieces**

**Pairings: **Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Connor, Willow/Angel.**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own nor did I create these characters. Writing this makes me happy even without making any money so please don't sue me. That would make me unhappy.  
**A/N:** This is the end. I hope you've enjoyed the story... well if you kept on this far it must at least be alright. So just: Thanks for reading and thank you so much for the lovely reviews!

**Epilogue**

Willow was standing at the front desk whistling a tune and smiling at the files. The world was beautiful today. The sun seemed to shine brighter than before and the birds managed to overpower the traffic noises – in her head at least.

Every few minutes her mind started to wander back upstairs to the handsome vampire she had left in his bed to get some work done. He deserved the rest. After his nightly patrol he had made love to her for hours.

Loud knocks, bursts of laughter or rants of English accented curses coming from the training room where Spike and Buffy were sparring, brought her back to her work. And to make her day just perfect Dawn had just called and said she and Connor would come by later after a trip to the beach.

Her look wandered over to Illyria who was standing like a statue in the lobby. If only she could do something more for her. Maybe find her some sort of companion, she wouldn't feel so left out around all the couples. But who or what could take on such a task was no easy question to answer.

Willow picked up the stack of paper she had been sorting out and took them into the office. She heard the front door open and close with a bang. "Hello! Anybody here?" She heard a man's voice call out. "Willow, Buffy? Former evil undeads?"

"Why do you shout?" Willow heard Illyria ask the man who probably hadn't noticed her when he came in.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph – who the hell are you … and what are you?"

"I am Illyria." The blue haired demon proclaimed in her own special way, like this was the ultimate truth of the universe, just as Willow came back to the lobby and saw her childhood friend gaping speechless at the creature in front of him.

"Who are you?" Illyria's icy voice asked Xander in her attempt to be polite.

An idea came to Willow's mind as she saw her friend gawking at the ancient demon. Why not really test that demon magnet thing of his for once. "Xander!" she broke their silent stare.

"Hey, Willow. How's it going?" Xander managed to say after regaining most of his ability to think and hugged the red haired witch.

"Great actually." She replied. "I see you've already met Illyria."

THE END


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